There are plenty of examples on the market of locations being renamed. A dorm at my alma mater was referred to as Accomplice Corridor; now it’s Memorial Corridor. I as soon as skied at Squaw Valley Resort in California, now generally known as Palisades Tahoe. The best mountain in the US, as soon as formally generally known as Mount McKinley, is now Denali.

I do know this kind of factor makes some folks mad, and I perceive that. However I’d prefer to level out that this has been taking place for longer than you may notice.

Missouri Sen. Thomas Hart Benton was one of many heroes of the South within the 1830s. An ally of President Andrew Jackson and a staunch believer in Manifest Future, Benton was one of many nice orators of his period.

Many individuals thought Benton could be president in the future. That’s one cause no much less that 10 states named counties for him within the 1830s and 1840s: Alabama, Arkansas, Florida, Indiana, Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Oregon, Tennessee and Washington.

Nevertheless, Benton’s opinion on slavery modified dramatically within the 1840s. A slave proprietor who supported insurance policies pleasant to slavery within the early a part of his profession, Benton discovered himself more and more uncomfortable with the establishment as he aged.

In 1849 Benton publicly declared himself in opposition to the unfold of slavery within the West. “My private sentiments are in opposition to the establishment of slavery, and in opposition to its introduction into locations the place it doesn’t exist,” he mentioned.

Talking out in opposition to slavery wasn’t tolerated within the antebellum South. In a single day, Southern newspapers labeled him a “traitor,” “demogogue,” and “petty tyrant.”

“He [Benton] is now heading a band of abolitionists, factionists and disunionists, in course hostile to the very best pursuits of the nation,” the Each day Nashville Union mentioned in Could 1850.

Benton’s stance on slavery value him re-election to the U.S. Senate within the fall of 1850, and it additionally value him some namesakes. Inside lower than a 12 months of Benton’s slavery stance, the legislature of the state of Florida modified the title of its Benton County to Hernando County.

The Alabama legislature would later do one thing comparable, voting unanimously to rename its Benton County in honor of the late John C. Calhoun. “He [the sponsor of the measure] requested for the ayes and nays, and {that a} tribute may be paid to the illustrious useless; and a benefit rebuked administered to the traitorous residing,” the Montgomery Weekly Advertiser reported.

What occurred in Tennessee is kinda comparable, kinda totally different.

Benton County, Tennessee, was initially named for Thomas Hart Benton. However in response to an area historical past written by a county resident (which you’ll learn at www.tngenweb.com) the again story’s a bit sophisticated.

There was, you see, a distinguished resident of that a part of West Tennessee named David Benton, and there was initially discuss of naming the county after him. Nevertheless, the native historical past maintains, one other group of residents wished the county named for landowner Ephraim Perkins.

“To protect native unity, David agreed to a compromise adopting ‘Benton’ in honor of his second cousin, Missouri Sen. Thomas Hart Benton.”

After Sen. Benton expressed his opposition to slavery, main residents of Benton County, Tennessee, and a few members of the legislature weren’t joyful about it. However as a substitute of renaming the county, they took a unique tack. In February 1852, the Tennessee Common Meeting handed a decision declaring that Benton County was named for David Benton.

Newspapers across the South understood the implication. “We suppose this was performed to take away the suspicion that it was named after the Missouri free soiler,” the Spirit of the South newspaper in Eufala, Alabama, mentioned.

Formally, a minimum of, Thomas Hart Benton stays separated from the Tennessee county initially named for him. Beside the courthouse in Camden is a small tombstone-like marker with particulars about David Benton’s life: that he was born in 1779, died in 1860, participated within the Conflict of 1812 and was a member of Benton County’s first court docket.

The marker additionally claims David Benton is the person “for whom Benton County was named,” which strikes me as attention-grabbing. David Benton could, in any case, be the person for whom Benton County is known as, however he was not the person for whom Benton County was initially named.

The entire Benton County story does make you marvel.

Lincoln County, Tennessee, was named for Benjamin Lincoln. If the legislature passes a decision, will future generations fall according to the inaccurate assumption that it was named for Abraham? Jackson County is known as for Andrew Jackson. If some lawmaking physique — within the title of vacationer improvement— proclaims that it’s named for nation star Alan Jackson, will we put up a historic marker that displays that standpoint?

Invoice Carey is the founding father of Tennessee Historical past for Children, a nonprofit group that helps academics cowl social research.